- Mississippi Free Press

William Waller speaking at a podium before a US Flag

News

Mississippi Courts Won’t Say How They Provide Lawyers for Poor Defendants

In 2017, the Mississippi Supreme Court’s then-Chief Justice William Waller Jr. helped mandate that judges throughout the state explain in writing how they deliver on their duty to provide poor criminal defendants with a lawyer. Now, six years after the rule went into effect, only one of the 23 circuit court districts in the state has responded.

Caleb Bedillion, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal September 18, 2023

a photo of Duane Lake, a Black man, standing in front of an 18 wheeler with his arms crossed and smiling at the camera

News

Mississippi Must Stop Jailing People For Months or Years With No Lawyer, State Supreme Court Says

Poor defendants in Mississippi are routinely jailed for months, and sometimes even years, without being appointed an attorney due to the state’s notoriously dysfunctional public defender system. The Mississippi Supreme Court now says this practice must end.

Caleb Bedillion and Taylor Vance, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal April 17, 2023

Judge Michael Randolph speaking in court

News

Mississippi Supreme Court Ends Unlimited Bar Exam Attempts With Four-Strike Rule

University of Mississippi School of Law Dean Susan H. Duncan and Mississippi College School of Law Dean Patricia Bennett wrote in August 2021 asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to limit the number of allowed bar examination attempts to four.

Kayode Crown December 19, 2022

Brown plush teddy bear with out of focus lights behind it

Culture

Remembering Mississippi Children Who Lost Their Lives to COVID-19

Inside the Heritage building in downtown Jackson stands a miniature Christmas tree. Teddy bears line the tree’s bottom as if they were its protectors. White lights match the nine pairs of angel wings that decorate the tree, each pair of wings representing one of the nine children who have passed away from COVID-19 in Mississippi.

Aliyah Veal January 2, 2022

Picture of late former Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith at the door of the hall where he laid in state

People

‘Loved By Many’: Public Says Farewell to Former Hinds County DA Robert Smith

Before he served as district attorney, Robert Shyler Smith was a prosecutor with the City of Jackson and a public defender with Hinds County, but became a private defense attorney involved in many high-profile cases.

Kayode Crown September 17, 2021

Culture

Not All Sunny Smiles: Richard Schwartz Fights for, and Writes About, the Underdog

His new thriller “Pearl River Mansion” is a fast-paced, occasionally over-the-top tale of big wealth, bigger family dysfunction, death, coverup, some ravenous alligators and the unlikely heroes who can find justice somewhere in that mix.

Sherry Lucas October 9, 2020